


Smile like the Sunrise

by mizutsunecafe



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Coffee Drinking, F/M, morning exercising, please tell me none of these are going to put that in a weird kink subcategory this is a g-rated fic, toad licking, water splashing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-22
Updated: 2016-04-22
Packaged: 2018-06-03 20:57:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6626035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mizutsunecafe/pseuds/mizutsunecafe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Silas just can't stay awake- but Beruka knows a thing or two about it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Smile like the Sunrise

Silas rubbed his eyes as he walked out of the ruins to seek out Corrin. She’d told everyone they just needed to stick out for the evening, and now the sun was- finally- rising. At last he could go get some sleep! However, that moment of bliss lasted for only a few moments. 

Immediately, shrieks of surprise and terror rang throughout the area. Corrin herself even ran up to him, alerting him that the spirits they were waiting for had finally shown up. He stopped himself from making a comment that they looked like Vallite soldiers- he remembered her warning about that nation’s name- and instead sought out Beruka. He’d make it his goal to help her with her depression, and Corrin had approved- with an agreement between the three of them, he was to remain by her side in combat. 

However, he was so tired and dreary that even Cain seemed to notice. The lucky steed had gotten to take a nice long nap overnight, and whinnied softly in an effort to wake Silas up a bit more.

“… They are still lingering near the entrance,” Beruka said softly, wiping dust off of her wyvern’s scales. Her gaze was sharp as ever, and she spared him a swift glance. “We have a few moments before it’s time to begin our mission. I will use this time to gain what intel I can. You should spend it becoming more alert.”

“… Right…”

Silas ran through what he knew to do in the army in his head. Splash water on his face? Worth a shot. He walked over to a nearby creek and crouched down, noticing a few other members of the army doing the same. Despite his bragging that he had no issue with staying awake overnight, Niles almost fell headfirst into the water. Silas would have laughed were he not in an exhausted stupor. He removed his gauntlets and splashed some water up, feeling the coolness against his skin. He shivered, blowing a quick raspberry into the air to get the excess water off his face. 

… Nothing.

A cup of coffee? He could smell it on the wind. He followed his nose to the source of the aroma to find Flora sleepily, but efficiently, brewing some for everyone. He gladly accepted a cup and gulped it down, almost yelping when the burning hot liquid touched his tongue. It was a sharp contrast to the cold air and the cool water from the creek nearby, but he managed to keep it all in his mouth and swallowed it, all of it gone in mere seconds. He stood in silence, holding the cup, watching as everyone seemed to perk up- if just a touch.

… Nothing.

Exercise? He returned the cup to Flora and walked back over to where Beruka and Cain were waiting. He began doing some basic stretches before following them up with jumping jacks, counting each one out to himself. Once he’d finished them, he sighed, doing a few more stretches, then continued with his little regimen of jumping jacks.

… Nothing, once more.

He noticed Beruka had kept her eye on him all the while, and if he was closer perhaps he would’ve seen a hint of amusement in her eye. He sighed, hopping up onto Cain’s back.

“Hey, I couldn’t help but notice… You’re so alert. How did you stay up so well?” He sighed. Beruka’s gaze softened for a second. 

“I suppose you would be curious. If I had not been there for you to lean against when you began to doze off, you would have died. If you are curious, my last stakeout lasted three weeks. One night was a walk in the park, you see.”

Silas’s jaw dropped. Three weeks without a wink of sleep?! Just what on earth was this girl?

… Besides an incredibly tough assassin?

He sighed. There was no way he’d ever manage that. He leaned against Cain’s neck in defeat, and watched as Beruka’s sharp eyes caught something. She strode across to the creek, reaching her hand into the water for the slightest of moments, retrieving a medium-sized toad, perhaps about as big as his clenched fists.

She walked back over to him, holding it out.

“… You did most of what I did. But perhaps… If you lick the back of this toad.”

“… What?!”

“Give it a try.”

Silas sighed- surely Beruka knew what she was doing. He took the toad from her and took a look at it as she walked back to her mount and got onto its back. He was so focused on the amphibian he didn’t realize that the wyvern lord was staring at him, watching him with a hawk’s gaze.

He took a deep breath and lifted the toad to his lips, giving its back a long, hesitant lick. The toad panicked and leapt out of his hands, thankfully only leaving a bit of slime on his gloves. He recoiled at the taste of the slime on the toad’s back, pulling his waterskin from his belt and drinking it dry. It wasn’t until he’d stopped drinking every drop that he heard a soft noise. At first, he thought it was coming from elsewhere. But then he saw Beruka’s shoulders shaking, her hand covering her mouth. Was she sick? Crying?

But then her hand dropped from her mouth to cover her stomach, doubling over as the sound revealed its source- her own lips. 

It was silent, but Silas now recognized it as laughter, and he couldn’t help but watch, feeling a warmth in his heart. He remained silent, his face slowly calming back into a slight smile. 

The laughter ended as suddenly as it had started, and almost immediately Beruka’s face returned to its usual stony expression, as though nothing had happened in the first place. 

He felt something change within him. It wasn’t something he even really realized until later. He’d been warned by Camilla that depression wasn’t exactly curable, that it was something Beruka would always have. That even if he was able to help her, that even if she could coax her emotions out of that cold cave they resided in, sometimes they’d go back and hide again and they’d have to work together to figure out a new way to treat it.

But that didn’t scare him in the least. He wanted to protect that smile, to let it live and grow like a beautiful flower. Even though her laughter had been at his expense, he couldn’t help but be glad that he’d- at the very least- put a smile on her face, no matter how long it had been there.

He wondered for a moment why the temptation to reach out for her hand was even stronger now than it had ever been before.

He pondered it for a moment before he felt a weight on his shoulder. Beruka had had her wyvern walk over to him while he wasn’t paying attention, and had gently placed her hand on his shoulder. Her gaze at him was soft, though no emotion poked through. 

“… Our mission begins. Let us seek our prey.”

“Right. Let’s go, Beruka!”


End file.
